Layers of Lava
by Sable Supernova
Summary: This collection of one-shots is being written for the Stratified Agate Challenge over on the HPFC. Sirius and Lauren were always meant to be, they were just never in the right place at the right time. By the time they were both ready for each other, it was almost too late...
1. Fire and Water

**Level I Task I: A non-rhyming poem.**

* * *

She lay on the hard earth

Like freshly fallen snow.

He shone bright above her

Like the sun.

.

She melted under his heat

Completely.

She was warmed by his touch,

Softened by his smile,

But he burned too bright.

.

She was water:

A river running its course to the sea,

Leaving a mark wherever it went

Like a scar in the landscape.

A tattoo.

Graffiti that said, "I was here."

.

He began to burn her out

Where she stood.

She was dry,

Running on empty, except for the promise

That his light would be

Enough

To sustain her.


	2. Today

**Level I Task II: Write a 100-200 word drabble about your pairing.**

* * *

Our problem was never what we felt, just when we felt it.

At fifteen, discreet liaisons in a fifth floor broom cupboard excited him, while they lit a spark within me that spread like wildfire. Like my heart had been a hot, dry wasteland of tumbleweed and old driftwood until he came along.

Sixteen. I plucked up my Gryffindor courage on a Sunday morning in May. I told him I loved him and he didn't say it back. By Sunday night, he'd found another short skirt to share that same cupboard.

Sixteen. Sixth Year began and it still hurt too much to look him in the eye. He saw this, seemed to understand. He tried to apologise. His words were acid, like a flame upon flesh. I knew it would burn stronger if I stayed, that it would eat my insides and leave me an outline of a person. So I didn't. I found an easy smile and strong arms. I let a stranger's lips call me his.

Yesterday, I let the stranger go. Yesterday marked four months of Sirius' new-found celibacy. Yesterday, he told me he loved me.

Today, I don't know.


	3. Tree-Climbing

**Level I Task III: Write ****about a childhood moment of one member of your pairing (the other member should not be included).**

* * *

When I was seven and three quarters, the garden at Grimmauld Place was perfect. It wasn't very big, but it had a perfect climbing tree right in the middle. Its branches came down low enough that you could pull yourself up, and the top reached high enough that it felt dangerous. That summer, I climbed as high as I could, everyday.

Regulus, at six and a quarter, would copy my every move. He would head up the tree behind me. He was less daring than me, and his eyes never came high enough to be level with more than my feet as he stared at the ground beneath him.

"Reg, come on, it's fine!" I remember telling him, encouraging him to be brave.

"But if I fall, it'll hurt," he argued.

"Then don't fall!" I had said, as if that was the answer. "Come on, Reg, stop being a wuss! People don't climb trees so they can stare at the floor. If you come up here, you get a really good view! There's the Thames, and the steeple of St Paul's, right over there!" I wanted him to see it as I saw it. I wanted him to share in this feeling of freedom and euphoria.

"That's great, Siri," he said.

"What's up?"

"I'm just finding it a little funny," he began. "When you're on the ground, you look up at the trees and the towers, at the broomsticks and the hippogriffs, and you think, wow. I want to be up there. That looks amazing! And then you get to the top of the tree, and you look back at the ground. That's when you realise that actually, the ground isn't that bad after all. At least it was solid, and familiar," he said, and began to head back down the tree.

That was when I realised that my brother and I were not the same. That was when I learnt how easily he could give in.


	4. Skirt

**Level I Task IV: Write about one member of your pairing experiencing jealousy.**

**Warning: Scenes of a mild sexual nature.**

* * *

I spent that Monday in a classroom, at the end of an eight floor deserted corridor. I knew the Marauders had the map, but if Sirius found me, he wouldn't come. And if the others found me, they wouldn't know what was wrong, so they wouldn't come. Lily and Mary would worry I was missing lessons, and Lily might even care enough to find out where I was from James, and he'd tell her without question. But I might get a few hours.

The problem was that I'd been stupid. I, Lauren Potter, was not stupid, or naive, or anything like that. Until yesterday. I let myself believe that I could change him, that he could ever open up his heart and let his walls down. I thought I would be different.

Remus was doing his Prefect's rounds last night, and he had found me. I always got along with Remus, especially since I learnt what his 'furry little problem' was, so I'd managed to convince him to let me keep him company instead of taking House Points from me. So we walked around the castle for a while, and I tried to make him admit his crush on Marlene McKinnon to no avail.

We were laughing when we saw them. There was a noise from our right, a broom cupboard, and as soon as I saw it, I froze in fear. That was our broom cupboard. When I said the words, I love you, Sirius had laughed it off and bolted soon after. I hadn't seen him all day, and I assumed he was processing my words.

"I don't want to know who's in there," Remus said with a grimace. Neither did I. I would have been happier never knowing.

"It's your duty," I said, hating myself for it.

He stepped forward. I stayed where I was. He knocked on the door.

"It's past curfew, back to your dorms," he said, not daring to open the door.

"Bugger off, Moony," came a voice from the other side of the door. His voice. Sirius was in there. Shock and sadness racked through my frame and I was rooted to the spot.

"Padfoot, if I let anyone else off tonight I'll lose my badge. Come on. Better luck tomorrow," Remus said, clearly not happy with his situation.

"Fine," Sirius sighed. That was when Lauren heard the giggle. The feminine, high-pitched, adoring giggle. The bile rose up in Lauren's throat. She set her face straight so that when the door opened, he wouldn't see. He wouldn't know.

The handle moved and the door began to pull inwards. Lauren stared blankly ahead. Sirius stepped out first, a playful grin on his face.

"Moony, you have the worst timing," he said, and then he saw me. His grin came straight off his face like he'd been slapped. He stared for a moment, just a moment, and said nothing.

"You don't get caught if you don't break the rules," Remus said, not noticing the staring competition going on between the old friends. Is that what we were now, friends? No, we weren't even that.

"Yeah, whatever, see you later," Sirius said, and turned to walk away before his latest skirt had even stepped out into the corridor. He didn't look back.

The girl came out then, a Hufflepuff tie untied around her neck and her short blonde hair unkempt. Her cheeks were flushed as she smiled, nervous. She was short, thin, and she had piercing eyes. Lauren hated her. She didn't know the girl's name, but she was exactly where she shouldn't have been, and exactly where Lauren should have been.

"Where has he gone?" she asked, looking a little dejected.

"Gryffindor tower, I think," Remus told her. Her skirt was too short, Lauren decided. It looked desperate.

"Oh," was all she could say.

"Consider yourself lucky, normally he leads them on for a while before he acts like a dick and runs off to the next one," she told the girl, venom dripping from her harsh words. "I think it's probably over between the two of you, he doesn't usually let them know."

Lauren turned and stalked off, closing her eyes against the tears that threatened to run rivers down her cheeks. She would not cry for Sirius Black.

Except that here, sat in a cold empty classroom, I had. Because I was so jealous of that girl I hated her. Because it should have been me in her place, and I couldn't even work out whether it was him or me that had ruined it.


	5. Reciprocity: A Sonnet

**Level II Task I: Write a rhyming poem about your pairing.**

* * *

She fell in love in Spring when hope was high,

The perfect season for a love to start

But he wished she would simply pass him by,

Too heavy guarded he had kept his heart.

He loved her in the longest nights, and how!

The cold seeped in but she kept his heart warm.

But her summer had been lonely, long and now

She would not let him keep her so forlorn.

So as he she loved, he never understood

And as he loved, she kept him far away

Both drove a wedge between and swore in blood:

They would not be; there would not be that day.

Until they knew the truth within their hearts:

It hurt more than it healed to be apart.


	6. We Ended Thrice Before The End

**Level II Task II: Write about a break up.**

* * *

Sirius and I broke up three times. Once in Fifth Year, when I had fallen in love with him before he was ready for it. Once, in 1979 when he suspected me of spying for Voldemort, and I walked away instead of staying to explain. Once in 1981, November, when his last words to me before they dragged him off to Azkaban were, "I love you, so you have to go and be happy, okay? There is no us anymore. Forget about me."

I didn't listen, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that this time it's really over, and we didn't get to say goodbye. There is no 'us'... and there never will be again.

Way back then, when our story began, when the Marauders roamed the halls of Hogwarts, I was the wild child. I was the loose cannon, the cherry bomb. When we joined the Order of the Phoenix, I was the most reckless, I volunteered for the most dangerous missions, and I put my life on the line for theirs. For his. I was the one that one supposed to die. I asked Death to take me over and over again. Now, I'm the only one left.

Where is he? Sirius? Did he know it was coming, were there signs? Could I have saved him? It's been two years... Two years and the wound still bleeds like it did that day. I realised I loved him in April, 1976, and I have loved him ever since. Twenty two years and three months I have loved him, did he know that? And we only got four years and nine months together.

18th June. Today was the worst day of the year, and I had come to spend it by your memorial plaque. There was no body for them to bury. The war was won and happiness was spreading like a disease, everywhere but the deep ravines of my heart. I wanted to tell you that Remus died last month, but I hope you already know. I hope he's with you.

I wanted to tell you that every night before I go to sleep, a series of names pass in front of my eyelids and make waking up the next morning harder.

Mary MacDonald. Marlene McKinnon. Lily Potter. James Potter. Remus Lupin. Regulus Black. Albus Dumbledore. Sirius Black. Rest in peace.


	7. She Was Mine

**Level II Task III**

* * *

It was the summer after we'd left Hogwarts. Eighteen with the world at our feet: naive and cocky, but happy.

She looked cute and dangerous that day, carefree and innocent, daring and wild. My Lauren.

After dinner, we walked along the wet sand back to our cottage, our shoes in my right hand and her hand in my left. The new moon shed little light, but the sparkle in my eyes gave me direction.

She asked me what I wanted for my birthday.

"I don't want anything but you. If I could live everyday like we lived today I would be the happiest man," I told her.

"Everyday?" she asked.

"Every last one."

"That's a lot of days," she said.

"Won't you love me when I'm old and grey?" I asked her.

"Of course I will," she smiled.

We reached the gate that opened onto the garden path that lead to our home. I reached out to open it. "Then it's settled, isn't it?" I smiled.

"What's settled?" She still smiled but her brow furrowed in confusion.

I let my smile fade as I turned to her. "Marry me."

"What?" Her eyes widened in shock.

"Marry me."

"You're crazy." A smile began to tug at the corners of her lips.

I said it four more times as our smiles grew.

"Okay."

I pulled her into a kiss like we'd never kissed before. She kissed me back, pressing her body into mine and wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I placed my arms around her waist. We made it home as one, limbs intertwined, smiling through our kisses. For one day, our friends didn't matter; the war didn't matter. The whole world could go to hell. She was mine.


	8. Lake of War

**Level III Task I - Write about your pairing caught in the rain together.**

* * *

Seventh Year was their year. Not just for Lauren and Sirius, but for all of their friends. James had finally won Lily around, and they were going strong. Remus and Marlene were holding hands in public, and even Peter had found himself a girl, with the bubbly, vivacious Mary MacDonald. The group were rarely parted, but that Saturday, Lauren and Sirius headed out into the Grounds of Hogwarts alone. It was April, so when the sun shone, it's warmth could be felt on skin. That Saturday, it was not sunny. The clouds were out in full force, and the chill in the air kept must indoors. Lauren placed her hand in Sirius' as they made their way towards the Lake, and she was content.

"When its quiet like this, it's like there's no one else left in the world," Sirius commented.

"If we were the only two people left in the world, dear, the lawns would not be quite so well maintained," said Lauren with a smile.

"Well, that's how you know it didn't end in fire. It's not that Voldemort win or anything. Everyone just... Left," he replied.

"Why?" Lauren asked, teasing.

"Because they heard Mars was giving away free Chocolate Frogs and Firewhiskey," he replied and Lauren laughed.

"Then why the hell are we still here?" she asked.

"Because we're smart. We know that if everyone leaves, then all the Firewhiskey and Chocolate Frogs here are free, along with everything else," he replied.

"Oh, that's good," she said, sounding impressed. "That means that Motorbike we saw is free, too," she replied.

"I hadn't even thought of that. I wish," he replied.

"It'll be yours one day," Lauren replied with a knowing smile. Little did he know she'd already bought it for him, she was simply waiting until his birthday in November.

Sirius lies at her curiously, but decided not to ask. He didn't want to imply he wanted it from her, anyway. It was way out of her price range.

They walked in silence, right down onto the banks of the Lake, looking out over its rippling surface.

"It's like the war, isn't it?" Lauren said, staring at the water.

"What do you mean?"

"The surface is so still and calm, but underneath, there are things we don't even know about yet. Even the things we do know are enough to give some people nightmares," she replied.

"Does that scare you?" he asked, looking at her as she turned to look at him.

"No," she replied, honestly. "That might make me an idiot, but I'm more curious than anything. And more determined than I've ever been."

A rumble of thunder interrupted whatever Sirius was going to say next and the Heavens opened above them, soaking straight to the bone as soon as it touched their skin. Sirius turned to go back inside, but Lauren caught his wrist, a playful smile on her face.

"Wait," she said, before pulling him close to her. She kissed him as the rain ran rivers down their faces and flattened their hair against their scalps. Sirius wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, and he didn't notice how child he was becoming, knowing that whatever the war may bring, her warmth would always be enough.


	9. Flat-Pack Furniture

**Level III Task II - Write about your pairing moving in together.**

* * *

Hogwarts may not have been far behind them, but they were together again, and they were happy. The war was spurring people on to rush into things. Even Lily and James were looking for a house. Sirius and Lauren didn't want a house. They didn't want to start a family yet. No, they wanted a flat in London, somewhere near a park with a good back alley for Apparating, or at the very least, a good Tube connection to Diagon Alley and the nightlife. They'd only looked at three, but they weren't looking for anything special just yet. Just a place they could call home. Although, a spare bedroom or two for their friends wouldn't go amiss. As they'd both come into inheritances, and protecting the property and legacy of their families wasn't a priority, they were glad money wasn't much of an issue.

The first flat they'd seen, at the lower end of the market, was small, damp and dark and they'd hated it. The second was stuck in the sixties with much refurbishment needed that they couldn't be bothered to do. The third was perfect. With a balcony overlooking the Thames, three bedrooms and an open plan kitchen and living room, it was exactly what they wanted. It was still small, but it was just right.

Everyone had shown up to help them move in. Lily was in the kitchen, keeping the kettle warm and directing people to the right rooms. James and Sirius were carrying in box after box. After both of them living alone for awhile, it has transpired quite early that they had double what they needed. Remus was elsewhere, dealing with the logistics of handing keys in and ending contracts for them at their last apartments. Peter was unpacking in the kitchen, namely the essentials for cooking and eating, while Lauren has begun in the bedroom, swearing blind she could assemble a flat pack bed the muggle way alone.

"Okay, I give up," she called out in frustration, and James was the first one in, pulling his wand out with a suggestive smile.

"No, no, no! Let me have this one!" she grinned. "I just can't do it on my own, it's too big," she said.

"What do you want?" he asked, kindly, as Sirius stepped in.

"I need someone to hold that end up while I fasten this bit," she said.

"James, you do it, I don't have the patience," Sirius said, and Lauren rolled her eyes, knowing he was right.

James laid his wand to one side and Sirius continued his work bringing boxes in, and it was happy. They could almost imagine they were one big family, helping each other out like families do. In some ways, they almost were.

Later that day, after dinner, Sirius and Lauren were finally left alone. The quiet after a lot and busy day would have been unsettling had not been with each other. As Lauren finished off the bottle of wine to pour them a both a glass, Sirius settled on his old settee, in the new room, and waited for her to join him.

Lauren handed him a glass and settled down next to him, sinking into his side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"This is nice," she said, smiling.

"This can be everyday now," he smiled back.

"So long as I don't have to build a bed everyday," she commented with a grimace.

"You wanted to do that," he told her.

"I know."

They didn't say anything more for a while, content to sit and listen to each other breathe.

"I love you," Sirius days after taking a sip of his Pinot Grigio. It had been Lily's choice when she offered to go shopping for them.

"I love you, too," she said, sitting up so she could lean in and kiss him.


	10. Old Days

Level III Task III - **Write about your pairing either [getting along with] or [not getting along with] each other's families (can be any member of the family: parents, siblings, grandparents, entire extended family, etc.).**

Walking home after a lovely dinner, dressed up to the nines, was the last place I expected to meet my sisters, or his cousin, for that matter. Making our way down a quiet alley to Apparate home, we heard three cracks and were immediately on edge, drawing our wands.

Bellatrix stepped into our view first, dark curls piled high on her head as she sauntered into the fluorescent glow of the street light. Imogen followed closely behind. It had been years since I had last seen her, but her long dark blond hair and scathing expression were the same. Cordelia followed closely behind, stupid, gullible Cordelia. She moved forward to stand in Imogen's shadow, where she had lived all her life.

Sirius and I had been smiling and holding hands. We weren't now.

"Fancy running into you here," Imogen commented, a sick smile plastered on her face.

"Potter and Black, sitting in a tree," Bellatrix cooed, like she was referencing our relationship in innocence.

"What do you want?" I asked, coldness in my tone as I eyed them wearily.

"We we're hoping for a catch up. It's been a while, sis. Maybe things could be like the old days," Cordelia responded, and I immediately raised my wand. In the old days, when I was a child, the standard had been unprovoked attacks from them.

"Expelliarmus!" Imogen shouted.

"Protego," I responded quickly, and my wand stayed firmly in my grasp.

"Shame, in the old days you couldn't use that thing," she responded, brushing off my quick defense.

"How's my darling little cousin doing?" Bellatrix stepped forward to interrupt, wanting her own turn in the limelight and a chance to provoke Sirius.

"Better than you," he responded, gravel in his voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure," she replied with a smile.

"It's all a bit fairytale, isn't it?" Cordelia continued. "The two blood traitors, running away from home, finding love and happiness and all that." Her face did not look kind.

"The fairytales never tell you what happens next, though," Imogen mused. "Everyone dies eventually." That was a threat if ever I heard one.

"Some sooner than others," I told her, staring her down. I'd never performed Dark Magic, not yet, but I knew I would cut her down with a Killing Curse with no hesitation if I thought I would get away with it.

"Quite," Bellatrix responded, and before we knew it, the dueling had begun in earnest. Bellatrix was focusing on Sirius while both of my sisters turned on me. My only saving grace was Cordelia's lack of skill, but it still wasn't a fair fight.

I tried to think of a way to get word out, but there wasn't a moment to spare to send a Patronus. Unless we could buy ourselves time, we were in this alone.

I managed to block most of their attacks, but I was on the defensive, with no time to send hexes of my own. When one of Imogen's spells got through, I knew it was desperate. It was one of her old favourites, I mused, as a hole was burned into my right arm, my wand arm, and the blood began to ooze.

As dizziness washed over me, I did all I could to block their attacks, but I had no time to attack them. I spotted a bin out of the corner of my eye, a large industrial bin, and saw my chance. All we needed was bought time to sent for help, so after sending a particularly strong blocking charm, I levitated it into them as quickly as I could so that it knocked them all over. I conjured a Patronus and sent it on its way, hoping James would be here soon.

Bellatrix had righted herself within moments and blasted the bin away from them, spilling its putrid waste all over the cobbles. It wasn't long before the three of them were attacking again, with more ferocity than before. I tried to parry their blows, but my arm was growing heavy and weak, while my spells were not as strong. My only saving grace was Cordelia's lack of skill.

When Imogen hit me square in the chest with a Knockback Jinx, I thought they had won. I thought for a moment, as my head cracked against the hard bricks of the wall behind me and I slumped into a pile on the floor, that this would be it for me. I'd never heard such a beautiful sound as the two cracks that then interrupted the fray. The fuzzy figures of Lily and James appeared in my line of sight, wands ready, and I knew we would all be okay.


End file.
